Motivation and aspiration: what’s the point?

David Cameron says people from poorer backgrounds need to 'raise aspirations'. But motivation and aspiration are complex psychological processes that can’t be enhanced just because a politician demands it

Who wouldn't be motivated to obey a man who says austerity is essential while at a white-tie dinner surrounded by gold and an uninterested Lord Mayor? Photograph: Tal Cohen/EPA

Motivation and aspiration: what’s the point?

David Cameron says people from poorer backgrounds need to 'raise aspirations'. But motivation and aspiration are complex psychological processes that can’t be enhanced just because a politician demands it

If aspiration and motivation to succeed is all that’s needed, this would argue in turn that those who do have the big jobs, largely private-school educated white males, have them because they aspired to them, and were more motivated for them than anyone else. This suggests that financial security and a wealthy lifestyle causes people to work harder and achieve more. So, logically, if David Cameron and the rest of the government really did believe these claims, then they’d give those in poverty more financial support, in order to get the best out of them. And of course, that’s definitely happening. Right?

No, it isn’t. Inconsistency, in the claims of politicians? You probably need a few minutes to come to terms with this revelation, so take your time. Here, I’ll hold your coat.

Motivation is quite complex. It can be summarised as “the desire to do things”. Aspiration, in this context, can be seen as a “long term hope”, or “goal”. Your aspirations can motivate you to work hard and get things done to achieve this goal, whatever it is. But, scientifically, what actually motivates us?

Motivation takes many forms. Most basically there are the biological functions. Hungry? Then you’ll be motivated to find food. Full bladder? Then you’ll be motivated to find a toilet, or at least a private place. This is the main point of the (now largely obsolete) drive theory. This theory declined when it became apparent that (most) people aren’t slaves to their basic biological needs. For example, diets exist.

Operant conditioning, another basic form of learning, imbues a sense of motivation in humans and non-humans by pairing certain behaviours with rewards or punishments in certain ways. The subject then learns to perform or avoid that behaviour, and thus can be said to be motivated to do or refrain from certain actions. Again, this is quite a fundamental effect, and human complexity can override it. One example of operant conditioning in humans is gambling addiction, but people can still break these addictions using higher cognitive “motivators”.

Many people separate motivation into intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic stems from internal factors, eg playing a video game purely because you enjoy it, despite there being no wider-world ramifications. Extrinsic is the opposite, where external factors (avoiding punishment from others, gaining the approval of your peer group) are what motivate you.

It can get confusing. Things in the external world can cause intrinsic motivation. For example, yesterday my car was stolen with my son’s pushchair and car seat still in it. I found myself strongly motivated to stalk the streets armed with a meat tenderiser looking for the thief and explaining to him my feelings via the medium of a vicious beating. I’ve never fought anyone in my life, I know I’d be bad at it and that what I wanted to do was illegal, but still, the motivation was strong. Anger at injustice and other forms of arousal are other strong motivational factors.

A more comprehensive theory of motivation is the humanistic, incorporating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This acknowledges various “levels” that motivation can occur at, from basic physiological like food, sex or excretion (not simultaneously) to cognitively complex concepts like self-esteem and self-actualisation. These can be strong motivators too. For example, some may want to show how funny and clever they are by posting this “updated” version of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. There’s a good chance they’ll be so motivated they’ll post it in the comments section before reading this bit.

This being said, a lecturer on motivation and emotion I recently spoke to compared Maslow to Freud in terms of well-known-but-outdated theories. So there’s that.

It’s clear that motivation is a complex process, but it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. There are countless attempts in the business world to “increase motivation”, there is such a thing as motivational speakers and so on. It’s debatable as to how valid these are. While it’s good to emphasise that motivation is a complex cognitive process, you can’t just expect people to be more enthusiastic about their job when faced with poor prospects, low wages, bad management etc. just because a stranger tells them to. Many people I’ve spoken to who have been to these motivational seminars/exercises have reported the effect being the opposite of what’s intended.

Motivation is said to have three components: activation, intensity and perseverance. Activation initiates the action, intensity is the amount of effort given to that action, and perseverance is how long that intensity can be applied in the face of obstacles. The last part is important, because some things have more obstacles than others. A privileged person has far fewer obstacles than someone from a marginalised, impoverished group when it comes to obtaining important roles and jobs. A private school student might only have 10% the motivation to succeed as a state school student, but the state school student may have 30 times the obstacles to overcome, so the private school student still comes out ahead.

Motivation and aspirations alone are not enough to succeed. Many people in the ancient world were strongly motivated to defend their homes and families, but motivation didn’t cut the mustard against the resources, organisation and training of the Roman army.

So Cameron can say less privileged people should raise their aspirations all he wants, but it takes more than enthusiasm and motivation to succeed when the odds are so overwhelmingly against you.

Also, studies show that getting students to raise aspirations doesn’t make a difference. I could have told you that to begin with, but then you wouldn’t be motivated to read the rest of this post.

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